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Raheem Sterling’s new contract like winning Mega Moolah every year

Last week, Manchester City and England winger Raheem Sterling hit the news for a number of different reasons. First up was his comical falling over in the game with Shakhtar Donetsk, with no defender near him, which saw the referee inexplicably give Manchester City a penalty kick in a game they would go on to win 6-0.

Sterling then played a starring role in Manchester City's 3-1 derby day victory over Manchester United on Sunday, although at the end of the game he was reprimanded somewhat by manager Pep Guardiola over his showboating near the corner flag at the end of the game, something which several Manchester United players took exception to.

Prior to the game though, it had been announced that Sterling had signed a new contract with Manchester City, ending speculation that the England winger could have left the club in the summer for a cut price fee.

While the terms of the deal are not yet known in full, it is known that the contract will make Sterling one of the highest paid English footballers of all time, with the potential for him to earn up to £300,000 a week, if he can meet some of the criteria set out in his contract (one of which is winning the Balon D'Or trophy for the best player in Europe).

Speaking after signing the contract Sterling stated:

"I'm delighted to sign. My development here has been incredible. I felt from the minute I got here it was the right choice for me. It's really paid off for me and I'm really grateful.

"Every season you come in you want to do better than your previous season. You want to try and develop and get better.

"With the facilities we've got here there's no reason not to. With the coaching staff and the players we have in this team, it's the perfect environment to develop and get better."

Speaking on behalf of Manchester City Football Club, Director of Football Txiki Begiristain stated:

"This is a significant moment for the club. Raheem has improved dramatically in the past two seasons and is now one of the Premier League's best attacking players. His statistics tell their own story.

"He's quick, strong and excellent in front of goal - everything a modern-day forward needs to excel. We're all delighted he has committed his future to City."

Along with Sergio Aguero, Ederson, Fernandinho, Kevin De Bruyne and Gabriel Jesus, Sterling becomes the latest big-name City player to have signed a new deal with the club over the last year, securing their longer-term future at the club.

However, it is the eye-watering amount of money that Sterling will potentially earn that has really got people talking.

Financial Fair Play

Part of the fascination with the Sterling deal is the amount of money that the City and England winger will earn. Assuming that his current wage is now around the £200,000 per week mark (a figure which is not likely to be an underestimation) that means Sterling takes home approximately £800,000 to £1,000,000 a month before taxes.

Even for City, that is an expensive deal, especially when you consider that many star names at the club will all be on similar amounts of money, if not more.

There is also the issue with Financial Fair Play, which a German magazine has stated that Manchester City have been in breach of, specifically by pretending sponsorship deals with the club are worth far more than they actually are, with the clubs owner making up the shortfall, which enhances the clubs income and thus, gives City more spending power than they should actually be allowed as per the UEFA ruling.

Any subsequent investigation into these claims could see City hit with sanctions and that could well impinge on their ability to offer bumper new contracts to their players in the future. However, UEFA's decision to fine City a ridiculously small sum for past misdemeanours, for a club that have limitless financial resources, serves as no disincentive to the club to toe the line.

The British Press fascination with Sterling

Since breaking into the Premier League as a youngster at Liverpool, Sterling has seldom been out of the newspaper headlines. He has frequently been criticised for not performing for England as well as he does for Manchester City (something he dispelled with a superb two-goal performance against Spain last time out for the Three Lions) and aspects of his private life have also been covered widely in the press.

There was the furore over his tattoo on his leg, which shows an automatic rifle, a fact which Sterling claims is to honour his father, who was shot dead on the island of Jamaica when he was a child. Sterling feels his tattoo is a warning against guns, while his critics accuse him of glorifying them.

He was also in the newspapers a few years earlier after he had what amounted to a barber's shop installed in his home. His private life has also been the subject of much conjecture in the press, often negatively, leading many leading football experts to claim that Sterling is being hounded and treated in a racist manner by some newspaper writers.

Sterling's contract is like winning the top Mega Moolah jackpot every year

With the potential to earn £300,000 a week, Sterling's new deal is the equivalent of a slot player hitting the luckiest streak in history and landing a massive £14.4 million jackpot every year for the next few years when playing the slots. At the moment, there is only the Mega Moolah slot that is regularly offering jackpots anywhere near that amount online or offline.

The Microgaming progressive jackpot game recently hit the headlines when one lucky player landed a new Guinness World Record slot win, when they landed a massive €18.9 million jackpot prize in September 2018.

That is even more than Raheem Sterling will earn during the first year of his new contract and what is more, depending on where the lucky winner landed their prize, the amount won could well be tax-free.

With almost 50 winners of the top Mega Moolah progressive prize since the game was first released, and with winners coming from all around the world, the slot has created numerous millionaires in many different countries, many opting to remain anonymous following their good fortune, with just a relative few going public with their wins.

So, it seems that if you want to land the mega-riches in the world today, you can either develop your skills and become a top Premier League footballer, or if that's too difficult to achieve then perhaps spinning the reels and getting lucky on a world-record-busting online progressive jackpot slot will do the trick! You'll never know, if you don't try it.